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EMC to Cut 1,250 Staff
EMC Corp. has reported lower quarterly profits on improved revenue and announced a job-cut plan that would cut into fourth-quarter earnings. EMC said it planned to cut 1,250 employees, or about 4% of its work force of nearly 31,000, by the end of 2007 to integrate acquisitions made in the past three years. It expected pretax charges of $150 million to $175 million, or 6 cents per share, in the fourth quarter to cover the cost of this consolidation. [Source: Computerworld]

Ceridian Expands Time and Attendance and Scheduling Offerings
Ceridian, a provider of human resources outsourcing management solutions, announced that it is launching a new, fully automated time and attendance and scheduling solution. This new offering will enable employers to complete these processes faster and better, while also developing detailed reports and analyses on employee productivity, absence management and other workforce management issues. Ceridian’s expanded time and attendance and scheduling offerings can be scaled for small businesses with 100-500 employees, midsize companies with 500-5,000 employees and for employers with more than 5,000 employees.

Nearly 60% of Workers Experience Road Rage During Commute
Are yelling, horn-honking and creative hand gestures a regular part of your commute? You’re not alone. Fifty-nine percent of workers surveyed by CareerBuilder.com admit to experiencing road rage while traveling to and from work. One-in-ten report they usually or always experience road rage during their commute. The survey, completed in June 2006, included more than 2,200 workers nationwide.

Nearly 85 percent of workers say their primary means of traveling to and from work is driving. It’s no surprise that incidents of road rage climbed with the length of the commute. However, 30 percent of workers with commutes of less than five minutes still say they experience road rage on occasion. The same goes for 42 percent of workers with commutes of less than 10 minutes.

Women were slightly more apt to feel road rage than men. Sixty percent of women reported road rage, compared to 57 percent of men.

CareerBuilder offers the following tips for a calm and enjoyable commute:

• Lose the lead foot: Lost tempers and traffic weaving are often signs of running late. Leave a few minutes early to give yourself extra time in case you come across heavy traffic, bad weather, train crossings and other morning disasters.

• It’s nothing personal: Remember, the other drivers aren’t out to get you. People who hit the brakes without apparent reason, drive well below the speed limit, daydream, sit still while other cars are moving, etc. are usually just bad drivers.

• Early to bed: Yawning drivers tend to get more agitated behind the wheel. Try to work in a good night’s sleep and healthy breakfast, so you can go to work feeling refreshed and ready to take on rush hour.

• Easy listening: Seventy-two percent of workers say they listen to music to pass the time in transit. Soothing music or books on tape can help you to relax during bumper-to-bumper delays.

• Breathe: The next time you want to emphatically inform a fellow commuter of how he/she drives, take a few deep breaths instead. It can help you keep centered and control stress levels.

More...

Online Recruitment Activity Rises in Top U.S. Metro Markets
Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Indianapolis were among the markets that saw increased online recruitment activity last month, with Minneapolis also gaining and now showing the most consistently upward growth trend over the first nine months of 2006, according to Monster. The Los Angeles metro area registered the largest rate of month-to-month increase in September, jumping three points, yet remained among the bottom-performing Index markets on a year-over-year basis. According to various reports, the Los Angeles market has slowed due to the cooling housing market and softer retail activity.

Houston, which rose two points last month, remained the fastest growing online recruitment market over the past year, amid higher demand for white- and blue-collar workers alike, especially in the areas of construction/extraction, transportation, production and technology. Kansas City, which also edged up two points in September, ranked as the second strongest market in year-over-year growth, driven mainly by increased online demand in the government sector and for computer and mathematical (IT, biotech) occupations.

Meanwhile, ten major metro areas showed slightly-to-moderately reduced online job availability, including several West Coast markets: Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Portland and San Diego, which were the top gainers in August, returned to more moderate levels amid lower demand for construction, food services, education, community and social services. Nevertheless, both markets continue to experience robust growth year-over-year.

A total of seven markets – Boston, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. – remained unchanged from elevated levels registered in August, demonstrating continued strength in their respective hiring environments.

In terms of occupational trends, the Index showed varying levels of demand across occupations in different markets in September. The two stand-outs were military-related occupations, which were in higher demand throughout all 28 metro areas last month, and protective service occupations, which saw increased online opportunities in a majority of the markets tracked.
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Gaps in Network Skills Could Lower APAC Competitiveness
By 2009, the Asia Pacific region, excluding Japan, will have 221,000 fewer people than it needs with advanced network skills in wireless technologies, security and IP telephony, up from 113,000 in 2006. This represents 55 percent of the total network professional shortfall, which IDC forecasts will be 396,000 in 2009, up from 210,000 in 2006. As the network becomes more important to individuals and organizations, this skills shortage may eventually impede the region’s economic development.

While the overall shortage of people with network skills is a concern, what is even more worrying is the gap in advanced technologies. According to the study, in 2009, Asia Pacific will have a 20 percent skills gap for general network skills and a larger 26 percent gap for advanced skills in wireless technologies, security and IP telephony. What’s more telling is that by 2009, the number of Asia Pacific countries with an advanced technology skills gap of 20 percent or higher will double from four to eight.

Considering that 47 percent of the respondents say the network is a key platform for process sharing and that employees in 46 percent of the surveyed companies use the network to remotely access enterprise systems, the network is clearly gaining importance as a platform for connecting a business.

Across the region, the study revealed three main country groupings. The People’s Republic of China and India represent the large high-growth markets, where demand for IT network skills will be the greatest. For example, local-area network (LAN) penetration in China is currently at 28 percent, and a mere 2 percent of the companies there constitute an additional 30,000 businesses that need network skills. In India, the demand for network skills is growing at the fastest rate in Asia Pacific, driven primarily by the expanding market for IT-enabled services and business-process outsourcing.

Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam make up the “developing economies” grouping that represents relatively immature markets with limited complexity and a growing demand for network infrastructure.

The third group comprises mature economies (Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea), where growth in IT spending and network equipment is relatively low. These markets have established complex infrastructures and educational systems that produce a steady supply of graduates with network technology skills.

However, the mature economies still have skills gaps, in particular for advanced technology skills. Korea has the largest gap in this group, as sophisticated network infrastructures — which require professionals with both network and application skills — are being developed in response to the growth in commercial and consumer markets.

With network technologies being an engine of growth with powerful influence over sectors such as education, transportation, manufacturing and trade, tourism, and financial services, which further contribute to GDP growth, this presents a challenge for government agencies to beef up needed competency and attract national investment.

Other key findings include:

• Network skills across several technology areas are becoming critical requirements for highly integrated data center environments. More than 65 percent of the respondents consider data center and cross-technology skills as gaining importance, and network professionals now spend 70 percent of their time on tasks that involve the network. Networking is seen as a foundation to support critical data center functions, including applications, transactions, storage, security and access control.
  
• 96 percent of the respondents believe that the network will become more important for business operations in the future.
  
• 32 percent of organizations across Asia Pacific already encounter difficulties in finding appropriately skilled network engineers.

• Enterprises in Asia that are unable to employ workers with the necessary network technology skills will find it difficult to remain competitive.

Overall, the survey shows that some countries in Asia Pacific have larger skills gaps than others and that the link between IT and the business is becoming clearer and stronger. More important, the convergence of the network with other IT technologies is creating a demand for IT staff with deeper and wider skill sets.
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82% of Companies Are Now Involved in Global Training
Expertus, a provider of strategic training outsourcing services, and TrainingOutsourcing.com, a company that offers guidance and consulting to buyers and sellers of outsourcing services, have announced the results of the second of six surveys designed to provide market data on all aspects of today’s corporate training challenges.

This latest survey focused on global training, defined as training provided to employees, customers, and partners outside of an organization’s home country. Questions explored a variety of issues, including: percentage of current budget spent on training outside of home countries, governance of global training, use of e-learning and LMSs, language translations, and most common challenges. A total of 268 responses were received and analyzed by company size. Approximately 31% of survey respondents had between 5 and 50 locations outside of home countries and almost 20% had more than 50 locations outside of home countries.

Following are survey highlights:

*While a vast majority of companies are now involved in global training, most training dollars are still spent on training delivered within home countries. Almost half of responding companies spend less than 10% of their annual training budgets on training delivered outside of home countries. In 36.7% of responding companies, employees outside of home countries receive less training than those employees located within home countries.

• *62.2% of companies managed global training through a centralized learning organization. However, 42% of respondents had training staff located in U.S. and non-U.S. countries.

• English is by far the most commonly used language for training (95%). Almost 40% of companies translate training into Spanish, 30% into French, 25% into Chinese, and 25% into German.
  
• In 57.7% of companies, all employees have access to e-learning.

• The top challenges identified by respondents are budget constraints, content localization and translation, effective learning delivery, and maximization of e-learning.

• *Respondents identified the major challenges related to channel training as: budget constraints (50.5%), lack of control (46.3%), distributed locations (42.1%), and staffing constraints (33.2%).

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Small Business Compensation Varies By Industry
Salary.com, Inc., a provider of on-demand compensation management solutions, has released the results of its 2006 Small Business Executive Compensation Survey. The survey reports on 12 key executive job functions and includes data from more than 1,800 organizations representing more than 50 industries, 15 regions, all 50 states, 96 metropolitan areas and 10 size ranges.

According to the survey, the national average salary for the CEO/Partner/Owner job function is $258,400; however, compensation varies widely across geographies. For example, small business CEOs/Partners/Owners in the District of Columbia earn $395,000 annually — more than 2.5 times as much as their counterparts in Oklahoma.

CEO/Partner/Owner compensation varies across industries as well, with the manufacturing industry paying its CEOs/Partners/Owners $254,700, or eight percent higher than the national median, and several industries paying well below the national median. For example, the retail trade industry pays $169,500 (38 percent lower than the national median), the construction industry pays $190,000 (23 percent lower) and the healthcare and social assistance industry pays $210,000 (11 percent lower).

Other findings:

• Compensation for executives generally increases with company size, as measured by number of full-time employees and revenue.

• Executives at publicly held corporations typically earn significantly more than their counterparts in sole-proprietorships and closely held corporations.

• Higher total compensation in the mining, financial services and chemical manufacturing industries can be attributed to significantly larger bonuses, commissions and additional short-term incentives.

• In keeping with national trends, companies in the Northeast and West Coast regions tend to pay their executives more than organizations in the Midwest, South and Mountain States regions. In fact, 11 of the 12 job functions earn more in the Northeast and West Coast - the exception being Administration. The median base salary for Administration in the South is 19 percent above the national median, while it is 10 percent below the national median on the West Coast.

• The median total cash compensation for CEOs is highest in the Finance & Insurance - Funds & Trusts industry, at $683K, and lowest in the Transportation Equipment Manufacturing industry, at $130K.

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Training Takes Priority Over Pay Rises in Employee Rewards
Employees are unlikely to receive large base pay increases next year, but will benefit from more training and development opportunities, according to a European survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. The survey of more than 430 companies in Europe, mostly multinationals, found that only 16% of respondents are planning to increase their investment in base salary rises next year. In contrast, almost 6 in 10 (58%) say they will spend more money on training and career development initiatives for their staff.

Other aspects of employee rewards that will attract little extra investment next year are retirement and healthcare benefits, with 16% and 20% of respondents saying they will spend more money on these benefits. respectively. Instead, companies will invest more in annual cash bonuses (32%) and non-cash rewards (44%).

The survey found that 32% of participants plan to develop the talents of existing employees to fill skills gaps, while 24% are relying on new hires. The remaining participants will use a combination of the two.

Employers are most concerned about attracting and retaining talented employees over the next year, with 83% reporting that this was a very important issue. Differentiating rewards for high performers was ranked as the second biggest challenge, with 65% rating it very important. Only marginally less important were implementing reward strategies that underpin business goals and ensuring pay is linked to performance, rated very significant by 64% and 63% of companies respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, just 11% of companies felt that adapting their employee rewards packages to meet the needs of an aging workforce was an important challenge. Increasing the choice of benefits available to staff and responding to their preferences were also towards the bottom of the list of priorities, rated as very important by 16% of companies respectively.

People with sales and marketing skills are in the highest demand by European companies. The survey found that 23% of organizations were particularly looking for sales and marketing candidates compared to just 7% who were seeking to recruit in-house human resource professionals.

Engineering and IT skills were found to be in demand by 16% and 15% of organizations respectively, while employees in operations and those with global business experience were placed at the top of the list by 14% of organizations respectively. Only 11% reported that people in finance and administration were in greatest demand.
More...

Best Workplaces for Commuters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing today its annual list of Best Workplaces for Commuters from the Fortune 500 companies. This year, 133 companies employing more than 700,000 workers qualify for this list. The top 20 employers are ranked by the percentage of domestic employees who are eligible for commuter benefits, such as subsidized transit passes, telework, carpool programs, and emergency rides home.

Each year, the congestion created from commuting to and from work causes 3.7 billion hours of lost productivity, costing employees 92 million work weeks, and the nation $63.1 billion in wasted time and fuel.

To view the full list, go to http://www.bwc.gov/campaign/f500_list.htm

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Today's Workplace Climate Exposes Slackers
You're laboring away at work. The paperwork keeps piling up and the boss is asking for more. Then you happen to glance over at a fellow employee — an employee who is lounging around, talking on the phone to friends and generally doing nothing productive. These co-workers, otherwise known as "slackers," may seem like nothing more than a minor annoyance. But these underperformers can be damaging to a company.
Full Article...

The Ten Most Dangerous Online Activities
End users — you can’t live with ‘em, but without them, you wouldn’t have a job. They’re the reason you have an IT infrastructure; they’re also the single greatest threat to the security of that infrastructure. Because, in the end, most users have no idea how dangerous their online behavior is.
Full Article...

Will Your Next CIO be a Non-Techie?
Once upon a time and not that long ago, a company's IT director was most likely a highly educated techie with a head full of complex, specialized knowledge that fixed all those nasty computer systems problems. But those days are disappearing fast, in some industry sectors are long gone. Today's head of IT is increasingly under pressure to take a seat at the head table of business power.
Full Article...

E-learning Comes of Age
Internet-based training technologies have not always enjoyed the best reputation among enterprises, perhaps tarnished by some of the unwieldy, and at times ineffective, computer-based training (CBT) technologies that came before them. But demand for e-learning software has received a boost as companies seek to train staff for regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley, while several major M&As have shaken up the vendor landscape in the sector.
Full Article...

Customer Satisfaction is a Reflection of Employee Satisfaction
For most organizations, the goal of improving customer service levels is an article of faith. Clearly, there are significant benefits to be realized from trying to improve an organization's service quality. And that's why managers devote so much time and money to training programs that "instruct" employees on the specifics of dealing with customers. What these managers don't understand, however, is that such attempts are largely cosmetic. Real improvements in customer service start with providing superior service and support to the employees themselves.
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As Health Benefits Shrink, Companies Add Other Perks
Employers might appear stingy as a result of cuts to pensions and health-care, but recently, companies have been trying to lessen the pain by introducing other kinds of workplace benefits. Most of the added benefits are intended to help both employers and employees. For workers, new job benefits are increasingly important as the loss of others forces them to take on added responsibility for funding their own retirement savings and paying medical expenses. Companies needing to hire skilled workers are finding that more generous benefits can help lure applicants. And other companies are cutting worker turnover by making it easier for employees to juggle family and work life.
Full Article...

This book has a simple message: praising employees is the "single business strategy" that meets "all your business objectives simultaneously." Praising employees generates commitment, which leads to high-level performance, which causes customer and investor loyalty, it argues. Savvy managers are unlikely to buy into the idea that lavish praise is all it takes to generate profits and make the stock price go up, but the book may provide them with a few new ideas for how to make their employees feel appreciated.


For more information, or to order your copy...

More books can be found in the RecognizeServiceExcellence.com Required Reading section: http://www.recognizeserviceexcellence.com/

2006 Service & Support Technology Showcase
The 2006 version of our Service & Support Technology Showcase is now available! This valuable, in-depth buyer’s guide features the latest tools and technologies in the support services industry that enable support operations to deliver superior customer service.
http://www.recognizeserviceexcellence.com/techshowcase/index.htm

White Paper: The Role of Web-Based Self-Service in the Support Organization
Today, as enterprise knowledge and content management takes on greater importance, self-service technologies are allowing users to search disparate, dynamic data sources using such sophisticated search mechanisms as natural language processing, precision optimization and adaptive learning. Not only are users exploiting Web-based channels to find answers to questions, diagnose problems and download fixes, but to perform such transactional duties as product registration, email opt-ins, user profile enhancements, service agreement updates and more. (please note – you will need your member log-in to view this white paper)

Read the full white paper
http://www.supportindustry.com/members/selfservice_wp_2005.htm

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